I grew up in the South, and I despise okra. It's like eating a slimy eyebrow, but if folks like it, more power to them. If you are so worried about what people think about your food likes and dislikes, maybe you shouldn't eat in public. Or maybe get over your damn selves.

I've had some awful food that folks rave about as if it's Gods gift to humanity and been around long enough to understand that people will eat dirt and wax all poetic about it.

I don't care if it takes three days to make that stinky, lumpy, spicy main course. It sucks, IMO, and I think you're an idiot for eating it.

Like Baloot. The Asian delicacy found mainly around Taiwan consisting of fetal ducks brought nearly to full term, then scalded to death in the shell. People who love that abomination like crunching on the little beaks, feathers and feet and slurping down the amniotic fluid they were steamed in.

I know folks who like Limburger Cheese and the foul smell of that stuff makes me wonder what desperate soul actually ate it in the first place instead of tossing it in the nearest volcano.

Then again, folks love Pizza Hut food. I don't consider Pizza Hut Pizza to be actually pizza and haven't yet figured out what the meat pellets are and I'm not actually sure if it's food..

I'm also a bit weary of 'spicy' foods. I don't like foods that might taste good, but you can't tell because the first bite sears the skin off your tongue, melts the enamel on your teeth, turns your stomach into a knotted ball of acid and then you get to brag about how, much later, it peeled the first layer of tissue off your anus when disposing of it.

I had a thing of Red Beans and Rice the other day. One of those heat and eat servings. Nowhere did it mention that the stuff was spicy. The first bite burned out my taste buds, stripped the skin from my mouth, cleaned out my sinuses, seared all of the tarter from my teeth and dumped a volcano-like portion into my stomach.

What little taste I got was good -- it's just that not being a masochist, I didn't figure it was worthwhile being in agony to continue eating it.

I've watched big, burly guys wolf down stuff buried in hot sauce, proclaiming how great it is as their faces turned red, they burst out in rivers of sweat, guzzled beer by the keg, their blood pressure soared and they produced a grin more like a death spasm to show others how manly they were.

Eskimos love killed, ungutted, small birds crammed in the fat lined skin of a seal and buried for a year in the frozen dirt to 'marinate'. They munch the buggers down feathers and all and you don't want to be down wind when they do.

Some of the best oriental soups I've had probably took the chef 30 minutes to make 10 gallons. The overall flavor was wonderful, the heat of the spices NOT designed to over power everything else and the separate ingredients all had just the right flavor and texture.

Don't forget now, the 'new yuppies' consider it a wonderful ritual to cook up the placenta of their new born child and dine on it with fine wines and close friends. After all, it's natural since animals do it.Many birds and dogs eat the feces of their young or even their own and THAT'S natural also, but I ain't gonna do it. Elephants have been known to dig in each others arses for a dollop of feces, which they then eat.

Natural also but I prefer not to try it.

Then there's bird spit soup.

I have eaten bulls balls and found them remarkably bland, curiously unsatisfying in texture and the sauce made the meal. I'm not going to run out and buy a batch.

I've had those $5.00 coffees from Starbucks and while good, I actually had better from Mac Donalds for $2.00. A few old time diners (greasy spoon versions) gave me cups of coffee that I'd fight for and slapped down a plate of eggs I'd consider close to the food of the gods.

Usually I figure if the Yuppies and Hipsters like it, I'm probably not going to.

I don't care if thousands rave about a certain food. If it doesn't taste good to me, I aint gonna eat it and I aint gonna promote it.

I've tried some ethnic foods from my ancestry that my relatives raved about and decided they had their taste buds in their arses. Especially home made, old time breads and pastries. (Some of my ancestors never heard of producing a loaf of bread that didn't weigh a ton.)

So, I applaud the author for his candidness. From reading the remarks on the site, almost no one else did.

factoryconnection:I figured before reading that it would come down to the writer not liking basil, or cilantro, or ginger, or fish sauce. If you don't like the herbs and spices they use in the broth, assuming it was a place that had good broth, then you won't like the food.

You can always order it without all that stuff. Just ask for a bowl of "faux".

Almost every single time, people need to tell me how wrong I am and how I must try it at their place and add just the right amount of Sriracha and not doing this is why I didn't like it.

Sounds like tofu cultists I have met. No, tofu doesn't take on the essence of whatever oils you annoint it with. At its best it is tasteless and slimy and at its worst both the taste and texture are horrid. No, I am not going to try it just one more time because this chef mixes it with dried broccoli excrement and the taste is to die for. Or more likely to die from.

Only recently found out from a Vietnamese friend that I've been mispronouncing it for 20 years.

The cedilla over the "o" and the little tail on the "o" makes it a very soft sound. I still don't think I'm getting it properly, but as close as my Caucasian mouth can get it's not "fo" (rhyming with "go") but rather more like "fhaa"

exick:factoryconnection: I figured before reading that it would come down to the writer not liking basil, or cilantro, or ginger, or fish sauce. If you don't like the herbs and spices they use in the broth, assuming it was a place that had good broth, then you won't like the food.

The only drawback of pho for me is the exorbitant amount of cilantro I have to deal with. Basil, ginger, fish sauce, broth, meat, noodles are all great. And then I get to the farking forest of cilantro. Gorrammit!

Cilantro is a test of the true foodie. You may have excellent taste, but if the C-receptor gene has passed you by, you can never be one of the elect.

hubiestubert:So get something you do like. It's food, it's not rocket science.

I grew up in the South, and I despise okra. It's like eating a slimy eyebrow, but if folks like it, more power to them. If you are so worried about what people think about your food likes and dislikes, maybe you shouldn't eat in public. Or maybe get over your damn selves.

I actually have had a different experience. Yeah, pho is really popular and ubiquitous in Seattle, so you're going to have it eventually whether you want to try it or not. My first couple times I didn't exactly dislike it, but I didn't see what all of the fuss is about. Once you get the hang of how much of the sauces and whatnot you add though... It's actually really good. Maybe it's an acquired taste thing.

Maybe I'm just desperately trying to fit in with a foodie culture I don't fully understand by forcing myself to like what everyone else seems to like, without realizing that nobody actually likes pho and everybody in this city is just trying to impress each other with their foodie-ness.

factoryconnection:I figured before reading that it would come down to the writer not liking basil, or cilantro, or ginger, or fish sauce. If you don't like the herbs and spices they use in the broth, assuming it was a place that had good broth, then you won't like the food.

The only drawback of pho for me is the exorbitant amount of cilantro I have to deal with. Basil, ginger, fish sauce, broth, meat, noodles are all great. And then I get to the farking forest of cilantro. Gorrammit!

I just put Hoisin on the noodles as they are wrapped around the chopstick. I really don't add Sriracha except maybe on a noodle bite, because Sriracha really covers up the delicious broth that is deliciouser by the limesqueeze and greens addition.

When you get to the real Vietnam, you find out how supersized everything is in America. The Pho Tai in Vietnam costs typically just about a dollar give or take about 3000 dong. It's served in a bowl way smaller than would be seen in America. On the other hand, the restaurants typically give you unlimited availability of basil, greens, sprouts, limes, jalapenos, and sauce. And it's filling in the quantity given. Like Seattle, it's available any time of the day, but the place in Saigon near where I stay during summers only serves it for breakfast or dinner, no lunch.

Total loser attention whore. In his own words:"The only reason I have put myself through this experience of eating this awful dish so many times is because of the reaction I get when I tell people that I don't like it."

show me:I first had pho almost 20 years ago and have absolutely loved it ever since. I can understand why some people don't, but it really is about figuring just how much of each additive/sauce you like. Damn, I just ate lunch and I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

What is this, some sort of local immigrant snobbery? News Flash! Many Vietnamese fled their country when it was experiencing a gotdamn civil war. They settled all over the nation. According to wiki, Oregon didn't even make the short list of states with the most refugees.

More than sixty percent of Vietnamese Americans reside in the states of California, Texas, Washington, Florida and Virginia.

Only recently found out from a Vietnamese friend that I've been mispronouncing it for 20 years.

The cedilla over the "o" and the little tail on the "o" makes it a very soft sound. I still don't think I'm getting it properly, but as close as my Caucasian mouth can get it's not "fo" (rhyming with "go") but rather more like "fhaa"

Eh, pho is okay. I did hate it for the longest time though. I was trying Vietnamese food the first time, and I was having a craving for red meat. So I'm looking over the menu and I see something that was translated to 'supreme beef pho'. My thought was 'oh, that must mean it has a lot of beef in it!' and ordered it to go.

I knew I'd done something wrong when I got home and opened my soup, and it was looking back at me.

Satan's Bunny Slippers:Peki: Satan's Bunny Slippers: No one would care if you didn't bleat about it all the time like we're somehow supposed to care.No one cares. Get a job. Fiancee doesn't go to school full time, gets a job. Whatever.yes, yes, I'm sure you have all the reasons in the world why you can't manage that.just stop telling us how poor you are. We don't care.

Then ignore me. Fark does give you that ability.

And I repeat it because I don't assume the same people are on the same threads all the time (unlike you I actually don't care who posts what, and take each post as if it were a completely new person unless there's a trail to follow--few exceptions to this are Tats, randomsja, SkinnyHead, Pocket Ninja, etc.), and the same stupid crap keeps getting repeated that proves people have no idea wtf is actually going on in the world around them.

I don't ignore anyone. And if you don't care who posts what, then why are you replying to me? Obviously, you do care. And you're looking for attention, so you got some. You also keep repeating the same stupid crap if even I have noticed. I barely notice anyone, just the real irritants.

Have a nice day.

You obviously stopped reading after "who posts what" because I clarified at the end "unless there's a trail to follow." You were addressing me, I'm responding. And if you're worried about me being an AW, then why are you giving me attention? Shut up already.

Only recently found out from a Vietnamese friend that I've been mispronouncing it for 20 years.

The cedilla over the "o" and the little tail on the "o" makes it a very soft sound. I still don't think I'm getting it properly, but as close as my Caucasian mouth can get it's not "fo" (rhyming with "go") but rather more like "fhaa"

The easy way to remember it is there's a famous shop in seattle called Pho King.

Peki:Calmamity: I can see being ambivalent about pho, but getting yourself so worked up that you have to write an opinion column about how much you hate pho? That kind of just makes you a contrarian twat.

Shut up and make yourself a sammich.

No, he's all worked up that people won't stfu and trust him when he says, "I don't like it." Same thing when I tell people I don't like ramen. Everyone is all "WTF? How could you NOT like ramen?"

If I want something like ramen, I'll go make my family's recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup, or I'll get miso.

/have yet to try pho, fiancé wants to take me to a ramen place. I'm willing to try, but yeah, ffs, if I say I don't like something, can you just trust that I've tried it enough times to make an informed opinion about it?

EvilEgg:I get where the author is coming from. I have heard of pho, but I have never actually eaten it. From the people who talk about it, I expect to emulate Meg Ryan in her famous diner scene if I ever get around to eating it.

I lived in a predominately Asian community for a long time. There was pho everywhere. It's kinda "meh". Better than the ramen or whatever people try to pass off as pho in non-Asian places, sure, but it's nothing I'd go out of my way to eat. It's rice noodles in broth with herbs added, after all.

If I get pho and it's basically ramen noodles and spices, no big deal, I'll eat it and go about my business. But when Thai food has jalapenos, Italian basil and plain ginger in it, I just can't eat it since I know a tiny part of me will die inside. The gulf between good Thai food and bad is much, much wider than for good pho and bad pho. But then I'm an uncivilized heathen.

exick:The only drawback of pho for me is the exorbitant amount of cilantro I have to deal with. Basil, ginger, fish sauce, broth, meat, noodles are all great. And then I get to the farking forest of cilantro. Gorrammit!

I can see how that would be irritating, especially for people that perceive cilantro as tasting like soap. My favorite places for it give a bowl of broth and a plate with piles of noodles, meat, and the veggies. Completely-customized soup. Pho is the most humble of breakfast foods, and the humble shops let the customer do the work for ideal taste.

I get where the author is coming from. I have heard of pho, but I have never actually eaten it. From the people who talk about it, I expect to emulate Meg Ryan in her famous diner scene if I ever get around to eating it.